Thomas Haney, grandson of the original Thomas Haney, talks about his family and the Haney area in Maple Ridge in a new video that was posted to YouTube.
In the video, shot in 2013, Haney’s grandson talks about his family’s history and how his grandfather founded the neighbourhood of Haney.
“My full name is Thomas John Joseph Haney,” Haney starts off the video. “I’m 98-years-old and my grandfather founded the town of Haney.”
The video, produced by Trista Dawson Rutledge, the granddaughter of Thomas and Eleanor Haney, has more than 2,200 views since it was first published at the end of January.
Rutledge said her grandfather was not keen on doing the video at first. She described her grandfather as being modest and someone who did not like being the centre of attention. Rutledge said it took some coaxing by family members to get him to participate in the project.
“He wasn’t gung-ho but we convinced him,” she said.
Rutledge wanted to do the video to have a record of not only her family history, but a history of the area as well.
”You think you will be able to remember the stories because they are told over and over again, but you don’t,” she said.
And, she added, there is something special about hearing history directly from the people who experienced it.
Her grandfather lived to almost 103.
“He was sort of the last voice that could really lend to this history,” she said, noting that his parents, his siblings, his cousins, and his family had all passed away.
“Just trying to preserve that, I think, was so important,” said Rutledge.
Haney tells how his grandfather, who died when he was only six-months-old, bought 160 acres for $1,000 to form the town of Haney.
The senior Thomas Haney was born in 1841 and died in 1916, and was married to woman named Anne, who, Haney junior recalled was very religious and strict.
He said his grandparents had a house in Ontario and they recreated the same house here, that is the now known as The Haney House, at the south end of 224 Street, before the Haney Bypass.
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Haney recalled how he used to stay in an upstairs bedroom called the priest room – a room where the priest would stay, as he used to travel around because there were no churches for people to congregate.
His own father was born in the Haney House, because, he explained, in those days women didn’t give birth in hospitals. He, himself, was born on a kitchen table.
He also talks about going to war and living through the depression.
It’s not only the history of the Haney family, but also how people lived at the time, said Rutledge.
Rutledge was amazed at what life was like, not that long ago.
It took her and a video editor about six months in total to put together the video, whenever they could find the time to work on it.
What she hopes people get out of it is the local history and the Canadian history.
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Since she posted the video online she has received a lot of responses from people thanking her for preserving history and inspiring others to do the same thing with their grandparents.
“Thanks so much for sharing this! As a resident of Haney since 1964, I really appreciate seeing this. Time I think for us to get a petition started to change the name of our town back again,” wrote Charles West online.
“So nice to hear and see really well done. I grew up in Haney, not Maple Ridge, would love to see its name go back again,” said Rebecca Pickard.
Rutledge wants as many people as possible to watch the video, learn from it, and visit the Haney House.
Thomas, who died in 2017, and Eleanor, who passed in 2016, had four children, Betty, Cheryl, Kevin, and Gary.
Rutledge still has additional footage and hinted that she might be inspired to put a second video together.
The video can be seen at youtube.com/watch?v=x_bdrkaF_F0&t=21s.
Have a story tip? Email: cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com
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